The following article by Peace Now's Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer, headlined The Bloody
Shrapnel, was published in today's edition of the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth:

We had good reason to keep our fingers crossed during the negotiations in hope of a breakthrough; we had good
reason to pull our hair out when the minister of housing kept issuing tenders for settlement construction; we had
good reason to be angry when we saw the footage of the unjustified shooting in Bituniya; we had good reason to
become angrier when the government ignored the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike. It was obvious that the
despair, the hate, the hostility and the anger on the Palestinian side would find their way out.

We knew that time is not on our side, and that this was a matter of crucial decisions and human lives. Seven
years of quiet, in which we could have improved our relations with the Palestinians and achieved a peace agreement,
had been wasted.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) today expressed deep concern for the safety of the three Israeli Yeshiva students who
were kidnapped last Friday in the West Bank. Our hearts and prayers are with the three and with their families. We
stand in solidarity with their families and the people of Israel.

APN is also concerned about the possible repercussions of the crisis and calls on all parties involved to do their
utmost to ensure that the three return home unharmed and that their abduction does not further exacerbate an
already volatile situation.

Veteran Israeli journalist Danny Rubinstein, who has been covering Palestinian affairs for Israeli daily newspapers
since 1967, shared his observations on current Israeli-Palestinian relations in perspective of 47 years of Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

While Israeli politicians flip the finger at the world to score points with right-wing voters
at home, they are alienating Israel’s most important, loyal allies: Progressive U.S. Jews.

Lately, American friends are asking me whether Israeli leaders are thinking straight, whether they realize how
unreasonable their statements sound here in Washington, and how odd some of their policies seem.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) is appalled and deeply disappointed at the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organization's failure to accept J Street, an important player in the pro-Israel arena, into its ranks.

Washington, DC - Commenting on the status of ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts,
Americans for Peace Now's President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement:

"APN's position is clear: Negotiations are the only route to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the
only resolution to this conflict will be a mutually agreed-on two-state solution. However, the past nine
months of peace efforts, led with admirable commitment and energy by Secretary of State John Kerry and his team,
have failed to bring the parties closer to a two-state outcome. The current state of this peace effort
exposes three structural weaknesses in the current process: the manifest bad faith of the Netanyahu government; the
profound weakness of the Palestinian leadership; and the absence of adequate rules-of-the-game - and consequences
for breaking these rules - put in place by the Obama Administration as the steward of these efforts.

Secretary of State John Kerry cut short a tour to Europe Monday to rush to Israel and the West Bank to salvage the
US-brokered peace process from collapse.

The reason for the current crisis, the most severe since the beginning the so-called Kerry initiative eight months
ago, is the Israeli government’s balking at the release of Palestinian security prisoners, convicted terrorists who
Israel has committed to releasing as a gesture to the Palestinians.